The whole bungalow is large and airy. It contains eight bedrooms—the verandah is suitable for sleeping during the highest temperature—and downstairs there are a lounge for smoking and reading, a dining-room, and a domestic store. All the rooms have been made mosquito-proof. [Illustration: HAUSA HOUSE-BUILDING WITH GRASS. The Foundation.] [Illustration: THE FINISHED MANSION. It is put up by two men in a couple of hours, including cutting the grass.] Baro presents a peculiar hygienic problem. The mortality formerly associated with Jebba baffled doctors as to its cause. Baro, on the other hand, used to be regarded as possessing peculiarly unhealthy conditions in the marshy land along the river shore. Yet, with the exception of the first year of railway construction, cases of illness have averaged few and are now lower than ever. So much so that the hospital has been closed some time as there were too few cases to keep the staff employed. There are not many of that kind in West Africa. This qualified immunity could probably be traced to personal precautions. The lesson should not be lost by new-comers to the country, not necessarily new-comers to this part, as the same principles apply all through West Africa. There were other spots at Baro I should have been glad to visit, but, being due at Lokoja—70 miles—the same night, at 11 a.m. I went aboard the small steam-launch the _Rattler_ and commenced the 406 miles’ journey down the Niger. CHAPTER XXXVII LOKOJA First stage down the Niger—Lokoja’s past—The discovery of the brothers Lander—Previous theories—McGregor Laird’s enterprise—Eighty per cent. mortality—The 1841 expedition—Richardson, Barth and Overweg—Laird’s second endeavour—The House of Commons scuttle policy—Its reversal—First Fulani battle—Imperial control—Commerce of Lokoja—Vessels at the beach—Loading boats—Freedom of contract. “Steam at 10 o’clock, Cappy.” That was the order given by Mr Coleman at Baro in the evening to the skipper of the _Rattler_ launch for the following morning. “Cappy,” of course, was an abbreviation of Captain. This commander was of the Nupé tribe, and the craft in his charge was used by Mr W. H. Hibbert, Divisional Agent of the Company, for inspection tours of the stations in his division. He had kindly sent it up from Lokoja to save me waiting three or four days for a large stern-wheeler coming down the Niger. The wish, however, of several people that I should see the places in which they were specially concerned made the hour 11 a.m. when the _Rattler_ steamed away on the 70 miles’ run to Lokoja. The launch, propelled by a screw, was 75 feet long, with a beam of 8½ feet, and 4½ feet deep, drawing 2 feet 9 inches. The boat is used as a habitation by Mr Hibbert for weeks together as he travels up and down the main streams and tributary creeks to visit the many stations of the Company where produce is purchased by the men in charge and European goods sold to the natives.